When a manager makes the attribution that an employee's lack of effort or ability is the reason for poor performance, they are probably making an error called:

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When evaluating why an employee is underperforming, the manager is attributing the cause to internal factors of the employee rather than situational factors. This kind of judgment is a classic example of fundamental attribution error, where observers overemphasize personal characteristics and underestimate external situational influences.

Option a: self-serving bias. This occurs when people attribute their own successes to internal factors and their failures to external circumstances. In this scenario, the manager is evaluating another person, not themselves, and the attribution focuses on the employee’s lack of effort or ability rather than on external conditions; thus, self-serving bias is not the best fit.

Option b: fundamental attribution. This is the term used to describe the tendency to attribute others’ behavior to their internal characteristics (like lack of effort or ability) rather than to external situational factors. This aligns with the described managerial error.

Option c: consistency attributions. This phrase is not a standard label in attribution theory. It might imply a belief that behavior is consistent over time, but it does not capture the specific error of overemphasizing internal causes for others’ performance.

Option d: discounting attribution. This term is not commonly used in attribution theory to describe the error in question. It would suggest discounting certain causes, but it does not accurately name the well-established fundamental attribution error.

In summary, the manager's inference focuses on internal traits of the employee rather than situational factors, which is the hallmark of the fundamental attribution error. The other options either describe different biases or do not correspond to the recognized terminology for this specific misattribution.

MGB2230 - S1 2025 MGB2230 Organisational Behaviour S1 2025 Final Test

When a manager makes the attribution that an employee's lack of effort or ability is the reason for poor performance, they are probably making an error called:

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MGB2230 - S1 2025 MGB2230 Organisational Behaviour S1 2025 Final Test

When a manager makes the attribution that an employee's lack of effort or ability is the reason for poor performance, they are probably making an error called:

View Explanation

Log in for full answers

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